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Here is an audio/video file with transcript about how the numbers must be pronounced according to the ICAO (International Civilian Aviation Organization) standard. This is how aircrew members, and air traffic controllers should transmit the numbers.

CAUTION – There is not any exception for FL 100, and FL 200 according to the ICAO DOC 9432 Radiotelephony Manual, page 19, chapter 2.4.2, as it is pronounced « FLIGHT LEVEL ONE-ZERO-ZERO », and « FLIGHT LEVEL TWO-ZERO-ZERO ». However, « Flight level one hundred » follows the French DGAC and the British CAA patterns.

A pilot risking his life onboard a 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J Weatherbird weather reconnaissance aircraft, observed the hurricane in the eye of the storm and reported winds at around 100mph today:

New-York braces for what could be the most destructive hurricane since 1938 maybe 1821. South and North Carolina are beginning to feel the effects of Irene. As showed in the videos hereafter, Irene might cause widespread damage particularly by flooding well beyond the coastal cities such as Virginia Beach; Norfolk; Atlantic City, as well as Kill Devil Hills, the site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial close to Kitty Hawk:

The DARPA and USAF FALCON project might give anybody the thrill of speed as this « aerospacecraft » has been designed to reach Mach 20 i.e. around 20,000 km/h; 5.6 km/s; 10,800 knots; or 12,400 mph depending on the air temperature, and the altitude which might be above at least FL900!

DARPA HTV-2 - 22 April 2011 ---- Photo: DARPA, US Federal Government

Unfortunately, the project seems to encounter major difficulties as the last test which unfolded on August 11, 2011 failed again. The previous one – also on an HTV2 – had failed in April. Click on the right-hand side picture to get further information on the first test. The Blackswift (HTV-3X) had been designed by ATK; Boeing; Lockheed Martin; and Skunk Works to provided a strategic strike anywhere in the world within an hour. It was cancelled due to a lack of funds (see the HTV-3 shown in the following video):

DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

FALCON stands for Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States

Regarding the 2009 Air France Rio-Paris crash, and according to the BEA investigation, it seemed to show a lack of training. But it now seems to be more complicated- it turns up that the elements of the report on the investigation were actually incomplete. This scoop – according to this France24 video – comes from the French paper La Tribune. Several elements would have been taken out of this report, and more importantly an element about a malfunctioning stall alarm:

It was the first time a Boeing B-787 Dreamliner had taken off for Japan. The Japanese ANA – All Nippon Airways – has ordered 40 Boeing B-787-8; and 15 B-787-9. This video was shot a month ago as the wide-body jet airliner departed from Seattle on July 3, 2011: